The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) has warned that any government agency and institutions not complying with its reporting standards rule will be sanctioned.
“Our task therefore is to transform the FRC into a new, robust, independent, and high-performing regulator comparable globally. The bedrock of the transformation agenda of the
Council going forward is to ensure maximum compliance with the FRC Act 2011 (as amended), and other statutory instruments released by the Council.”
He said: “FRC intends to give full credibility to any financial statements coming out of Nigeria in a way that investors can rely on the information in the statements. A new FRC that will be firm and fair in carrying out her mandate; that will hold corporates and individuals accountable; and that will restore confidence in corporate reports and governance in the Nigerian economy thereby enhance the renewed hope of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu”.
Olowo said the transformation agenda which will hinged on four broad areas tagged Digitisation, Operational Excellence – Stakeholder Engagement and Enforcement “DOSE” will ensure best practices in financial reporting, auditing and corporate governance in Nigeria.
Olowo said the Council remains integral to the roadmap of providing confidence to investors as Nigeria embarks on a journey towards a renewed hope, where the strength of businesses and government institutions is of utmost importance to the economy.
Coming from the days where FRC was a private initiative of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) as the Nigerian Accounting Standards Board (NASB) for the setting of accounting standards in Nigeria from which Statement of Accounting Standards (SAS) was the norm, FRC has helped to dictate the pace of accounting practice in Nigeria and even West Africa.
He backed the World Bank study and subsequent reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC), with the aim of assessing the degree to which economies observe internationally recognized standards and codes.
“The ROSC report assessed the strengths and weaknesses of existing institutional frameworks that underpin financial accounting and auditing practices in a number of countries including Nigeria. In Nigeria, this study covered an assessment of the framework of the then Nigerian Accounting Standards Board (NASB),” he said.
“The ROSC report therefore recommended the need to streamline financial reporting and auditing requirements, harmonize regulatory arrangements, and codify them as a separate law. It then proposed the establishment of a new independent oversight body, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria with robust and sustainable funding sources and enlarged powers to effectively monitor and enforce accounting and auditing requirements with additional focus on areas of corporate governance, actuarial standards, and valuation standards,” he said.
Olowo said that the 21st Century has seen a massive shift from manual processes into a digital operationalization of activities.
